Expanding options for habitat conservation outside protected areas in Kenya: The use of environmental easements
African Wildlife Foundation
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Abstract: Kenya is renowned for its national parks and the abundance and diversity of wildlife; however, Kenya?s protected areas are too small, fragmented and not viable to maintain the current wildlife populations which rely on larger ecosystems than protected within the national parks. The threats against wildlife in Kenya continue to escalate due to an increase in habitat fragmentation, change in land use and human population pressure in areas outside parks. To secure Kenya?s ecological integrity and maintain viable populations of wildlife, land outside protected areas must be preserved through innovative conservation measures such as environmental easements. Kenya currently lacks the enabling legal framework to use environmental easements as a voluntary conservation mechanism. However, legislative changes regarding the current environmental easement framework can be used to provide for their (voluntary) establishment. This paper examines wildlife conservation in Kenya on land outside protected areas. It presents a context within which environmental easements as a mechanism to conserve wildlife habitat outside protected areas can be considered based on property rights over land and the management of wildlife resources and their implication for habitat conservation. This paper also describes easements, the legal environment needed in Kenya for adopting environmental easements and makes specific legislative recommendations. A sample environmental easement, adapted for Kenyan circumstances from an American model, is presented. Also outlined are methods of valuing environmental easements, a critical link in establishing a solid framework and process for having an environmental easement granted.